


Oh, Lord!

by ClaraWieckSchumann



Category: Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:41:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23244187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraWieckSchumann/pseuds/ClaraWieckSchumann
Summary: Isabel is not stupid in this one and chooses Lord Warburton.
Relationships: Isabel Archer/Lord Warburton
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I took some sentences from the original (ch. XII). Also, I love Henry James and I am not trying to make the book better, just happier.

‘I care nothing for Gardencourt,’ said Lord Warburton; ‘I care only for you.’

‘You have known me too short a time to have a right to say that, and I cannot believe you are serious.’  
These words of Isabel’s were not perfectly sincere, for she had no doubt whatever that he was serious. They were uttered merely in defense of her trembling soul, disturbed by this declaration of love by the man who any woman of a healthy mind would desire to marry. Isabel was, obviously, a woman of a very healthy, or better, a most rational mind. What now happened inside of this mind was a tough fight between her ratio and her emotio. This fight might at first glance appear counterintuitive to the reader, since her both parts should pursue the same goal: Her ratio told her that Lord Warburton was an excellent party, while her emotio was most shure of her deep love for this man.

The only thing standing between the present and a future with Lord Warburton was her pride. She was a woman not just of rationality, but also of principles. She said she did not want to start her life by marrying and she wished to remain true to this statement. However, now that Lord Warburton was standing there, declaring his love, she wished to have but one principle: to follow her feelings, to pursue nothing but her happiness. She cursed her past self, she cursed her need to suffer.   
‘One’s right in such a matter is not measured by the time, Miss Archer; it is measured by the feelings itself. If I were to wait three months, it would make no difference; I shall not be more sure of what I mean that I am to-day.’

‘Oh, but Lord Warburton,’ cried Isabel, ‘you shall be much more sure of your feelings in three months time! You are being most irrational! You are letting your emotio lead you, a most unwise behavior! You cannot anticipate your feelings, no one can, in three months you might discover a new character of mine, a character you might not only not want to marry, but actually detest. I care for you in a way I have never cared for anyone, anyone except my sisters maybe, but I cannot accept a man’s proposal which has sprung from a merely spontaneous movement of the heart! If I am to accept you as my fiance, I must be sure of the dependability of your feelings. I beg you not to persist now on that wish of yours; I will remain with my aunt here for some months still, let us see how this mutual feeling evolves. It might just be that in three months time we will be happily engaged!’

‘My dear Miss Archer,’ replied Lord Warburton with a soft voice, ‘your wish is my command. The one thing I need is you, and as long as my visits to this house are not prohibited I shall be happy. I will give my proposal again three months hence.’

Isabel had reached her goal: time. She would spent those weeks thinking hard about her principles, Lord Warburton and marriage - this situation required a lot of thinking, and that might just be the thing she was best at.


	2. Chapter 2

No, Lord Warburton could not anticipate the future, but neither could Isabel: It was a surprise to everyone on the estate that Daniel Touchett should die before his son.

Warburton was adequately respectful to wait after his death with any further advances concerning his love to Isabel.  
When it was clear though that Isabel and her aunt would soon depart to Paris he took up the matter again and on one morning came over and approached her, coincidentally sitting on the same bench as she did when he first proposed to her.

After only five minutes of very romantic talk Isabel gladly accepted Lord Warburton’s proposal and they lived happily ever after, partly because Lord Warburton is OBVIOUSLY THE BEST CHOICE and partly because the author of this story wants to concentrate her efforts on a Goodwood/Warburton-ship fanfiction.

THE END


End file.
